Light Box Art
For the multi-layer art project, we had to create a scene that tied into our worldbuilding projects from English. My story takes place in New York and explores the concept of rebelling against a government that restricts a woman’s right to abortion. I depicted aspects of my story by creating a New York scene with two people sitting on a bench looking at the buildings. My design is simple due to this project’s extreme time pressure. If I had more time to create my design, I would have made it more complex with more layering. Despite this, I am satisfied with how my completed project looks, and I had fun designing and assembling it.
Design – Illustrator
When I first started this project, I struggled a lot with coming up with an idea. My narrative story in English focused on abortion rights and fighting against a patriotic government. When it came time to develop an idea for my Light Box art project, I found it difficult to include my story’s message.
After Effects 3D Movie
After finishing my design, I imported the Illustrator file into Adobe After Effects to help demonstrate the assembly process digitally. In class, I learned how to use 3D space, camera trackers, and lighting in After Effects.
This aspect of this project was a learning curve for me. Adobe After Effects is not the most intuitive platform, especially when using 3D so it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what I was doing. I struggled initially with positioning on the z-axis and camera orientation, but after completing this project, I feel much more confident.
While making this video, I experimented extensively with different settings, which helped me develop a deeper understanding of the program. Although difficult, I had a lot of fun learning this new skill.
The final step of the Light Box Art project was to assemble my project’s physical parts. My design was cut out on paper using a laser engraving machine. After receiving the multiple pieces of laser-cut paper, I glued each piece of paper with thin foam boards to create depth between the layers and then assembled all of them and put them in order.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with how my completed project turned out. Although it was challenging and rushed, I still think that the experience was very valuable, and I am proud of my outcome.